Vulcanizing india-rubber and gutta-percha coverings and coatings of telegraphic cables



(No Model.)

H. A. CLARK, VULGANIZING INDIA RUBBER AND GUTTA PERGHA'GO VERINGS AND.

commas 0F TELEGRAPHIG GABLES. No. 252,739.

Patented Jan. 24,1882.

ififnaszes f/if NY PETERS. Photo-Lithogmphan Washington. 0, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FF CE.

HENRY A. CLARK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

VULCANIZING INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA COVERIN'GS AND COATINGS F TELEGRAPHIC CABLES.

- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,739, dated January' 24, 1882.

Application filed December 19, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. CLARK, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vulcauizing India- Rubber and Gutta-Percha Coatings and Goverin gs of Telegraphic Cables, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention pertains particularly to telegraphic or telephonic or electric cables composed of a series of electric wires arranged within a common or homogeneous mass of india-rubber or gutta-percha or other proper' gum suitably compounded to be capable of being vulcanized with heat, as well known.

In the manufacture of such cables the separation of the several wires from each other and their insulation by means of an intermediate or interposed portion of the indie-rubber, 820., must be most rigidly and strictly maintained in the process of vulcanization and thus secured, or otherwise the cable will be useless and impracticable for obvious reasons. To insure this separation of the several wires composing the cable under the process of vulcanizing the india-Iubber or gutta-percha or other proper gum used to insulate the severalwires is the sole purpose of'this invention; and

4 to that end it consists in the disposition of the cable in the oven to be vulcanized in a mold of a shape to maintain such cable in a practicallystraight condition from end to end of such mold, whereby the proper and relative positions of the wires are maintained; and this invention also consists in the projection of the molds containing the portion of the cable being vulcanized as aforesaid from the vulcanizing oven or chamber at the opposite ends thereof, all substantially as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the interior of the vulcanizingoven, and in some parts broken out; Figs. 2 and 3, cross vertical sections on lines 2 2, Fig. 1, illustrating the cable in the one figure as of a cylindrical shape and in the other figure as of a'flat belt or band shape, and the molds of corresponding shape therefor, the cover being in' position; Fig. 4, a vertical longitudinal section on H1104 4, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5, auend view; and Fig. 6, a transverse vertical section, showing two molds as arrangedwithin one and the same oven.

In the drawings, A represents a vulcanizing oven or chamber, having steam-pipes B B running in parallel lines through it from end to end, and acover or top, 0, capable of being secured in place and removed and replaced when so desired.

D is a mold in two parts, the one shaped to receive a round or cylindrical shaped cable (see Fig. 2) and the other a cable in the form of aflatbelt or band. (See Fig. 3.) The molds run in the direction of the length of the vulcanizing oven or chamber, and they pass through an opening, E, of corresponding shape, in each end F of the oven, and project therefrom. The molds are thus supported in position, and in addition they may be also supported in the oven by resting directly upon the steam-pipes B or upon other supports suitably located therefor, by preference, however, all so as to .place the molds in close proximity to the steampipes. The molds are made ot'au upper and of a lower part, together adapted interiorly to 7 5 receive the cable to be vulcanized and for it to lie fiat within and between them, running from end to end thereof. The parts of the molds are secured together in any suitable manner.

-lVith the cable to be vulcanized in its mold and the mold in the oven, as described, the vulcanization of the'cable then proceeds in the usual manner, and as a consequence the part of the-cable in that portion of the mold within the oven is vulcanized, after which the top of the oven and the upper portion of the mold are removed, and the cable is then moved along in the mold, bringing the next and adjoining part of the cable into position in the mold,

which is then again closed, as also the oven, go

in described, by the said projections of the 5- molds from each end of the oven, the efi'ect of the heat within the oven is communicated to the cable in the portions of the mold outside of the oven; but obviously the effect of the heat upon such portions of the cable diminishes outwardly from the oven ends, being the greatest at the oven ends and the least at the farther end of the projection, and thus the vulcanization of the cable is graded outwardly from the oven ends, whereby abrupt and sharp lines or divisions in the cable of its successive lengths vulcanized are prevented.

The "ulcanization of cables in a straight condition, as described, secures and maintains absolutely the proper separation of the several wires making the cable, as is obvious without explanation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The vulcanization of a cable composed of telegraphic or telephonic or electric wires embedded in india-rubber or gutta-percha or other vnlcanizable gum, which surrounds and separates the several wires by means of a mold shaped to receive such cable and hold itin a straight position while the india-rubber, '&c., is being vulcanized, all substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

2. In the vulcanization of cables for telegraphic or telephonic or electric wires in molds adapted to receive them and confine them in a straight position while being so vulcanized, the projection of such molds at and from each end of the vulcanizing oven or chamber, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY A. CLARK.

Witnesses:

EDWIN W. BROWN, WM. S. BELLows. 

